From Saturday, February 1, 2014, through Sunday, February 9, you’ll have the opportunity to watch some of the best women’s curling teams out there competing in this annual Canadian curling championship. Given the Canadian love of curling, the competition is fierce and so the teams that make it into the “Scotties” play at an unbelievable level of the sport. They typically make shots that I could only dream of someday making!

Alas, I don’t think that I’ll be able to make it up to Montreal this year, but if you can it would be an amazing experience to see these curling teams in action! No news on their site or their Facebook page about a live video stream but perhaps we’ll see more about that closer to the time of the event.

Want to get on the ice and actually try the sport of curling? Are you excited about the upcoming Olympics and want to see curling in action? Would you like to understand how the game of “chess on ice” really works?

Sat, Feb 8, 6-10 pm – At this “Spectator Open House” you’ll have a chance to watch curling games and ask questions of club members who are there to help explain the sport.

Sun, Feb 16, 12-5 pm – At this Open House you’ll have a chance to actually try the sport of curling. You’ll learn how to deliver a stone, the role of sweeping and more. This will be a great opportunity to get on the ice and experience the sport yourself!

Thurs, Feb 20, 6-9 pm – This will be a week-night version of the Feb 16th Open House where you will again get a chance to try out the sport of curling.

In the weeks following these open houses, the Petersham Curling Club will be holding several “Learn To Curl” events that will offer dedicated instruction for those who want to learn more. During the Open Houses there will also be special membership offers for those who would like to join the Petersham Curling Club.

It’s easy to get there – from Keene just head south on Route 32 (going down past the Keene airport) and stay on Route 32 all the way through Athol, MA, and on into Petersham. The club is located right off of Route 32. More information can be found on the PCC directions page. In good weather it takes about 45 minutes to get from Keene down to the Petersham club.

The Petersham Curling Club is a great place to curl and is where several of us involved with starting up the Monadnock Curling Club all curl. We strongly encourage you to head down to Petersham, MA, and check out the Open Houses. And if the curling bug bites you as it has us, please do join the PCC and start playing the awesome sport of curling!

Having been involved in the early days of the GMCC when I lived in Burlington, it’s great to see familiar faces and to see that they are doing well! I curled many a Friday night at the rink shown in the video that’s located just 45 mins north of Burlington in Bedford, Quebec.

If YOU would like to try out curling, our friends down at the Petersham Curling Club about 45 mins south of Keene in Petersham, MA, are holding 3 curling open house events on February 8, February 16 and February 20. They will be a GREAT opportunity to try out curling!

We have an amazing opportunity this weekend (Jan 17-19) to watch some of the best curling teams in the world competing against each other in the “Continental Cup” in Las Vegas. All of it will be streamed LIVE across the Internet at:

The Continental Cup is a unique format that pits 6 US and Canadian teams in “Team North America” against 6 teams in “Team World” from Scotland, Sweden, Japan and Norway. In contrast to most other curling events that are a series of regular team games, the Continental Cup has team games, singles games, mixed doubles games and ‘skins’ games. The scoring is explained on the event web site.

The remaining games that will be live streamed are (all times US Eastern):

Happy New Year! With the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics only about a month away, how about we resolve to make 2014 the year we figure out how to bring the sport of curling to Keene and the greater Monadnock region of southwestern NH and surrounding parts of Vermont and MA?

We need your help! Right now we’d really like you to show your support for bringing curling to the region – and to let us know you are interested! We’re looking to hold an organizational meeting soon and would like to make sure we invite people who are interested.

Want to see amazing Olympic-level curling live over the Internet? The World Curling Federation is streaming the Olympic Qualification Event live via YouTube. The schedule is online and runs from today, December 10, through Sunday, December 15, 2013. I saw part of the first Korea vs. Japan game today and it was excellent!

This is the first time this “OQE” event has been run as a way to identify the last two teams that will compete in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Essentially, there are already 8 curling teams qualified for the Sochi Olympics and this event is a chance for everyone who hasn’t already qualified to potentially earn one of the last two spots. The USA already qualified for the Women’s event but the USA Men’s curling team is in this event vying for one of the two men’s teams.

A new ice sport is gaining traction and you don’t need skates, just some heavy granite stones and a few brooms. Curling is becoming a popular sport and there is a club in Conway that is helping it catch on.

If so, here are three quick ways you can help us bring curling to Keene and the greater Monadnock region. Our greatest need at the moment is to build a community of people interested in the sport of curling and be able to show that support to others in the region:

1. Connect with us on social media – Help us show that people are interested in curling in the region by:

2. SPREAD THE WORD! Please share those pages and accounts to your own social circles – and please share/retweet/+1 any updates we post. Tell people about the website. Mention “monadnockcurling.org” to friends. Write up an article for the newspaper or some other printed publication. Post a notice on a community bulletin board… help us let people know!

3. Please fill out our form to let us know your interest and experience (and you don’t need ANY experience – just a desire to see curling available in the Keene area).

Together we can bring the sport of curling to the Monadnock region! We need YOUR help to spread the word! Thank you!